The swollen red sun beat down on the city. The streets were so hot that no one
walked them, neither human nor animal. The strays of the city perched on garbage cans,
eating scraps of bad-smelling rotten food and begging for relief from the heat. Humans
pressed their faces against cracked apartment windows, dry tongues outstretched begging
for rain. The stones of the buildings were sun scorched and covered in dust. No birds flew
above the city. Even the vultures were not out today.

Only three creatures observed the broiling sun with interest. Two cats and a kitten
sat on a lonely rooftop, squinting up at the great orb. One cat was pitch black with
glowing green eyes, while the other was white as a corpse with strange pink eyes. The
kitten was white with three black stockings and a black spot on his back. One of its eyes
was a glowing yellow, while the other was a pale whitish color. The kitten licked a paw
idly and glanced up at the sun.

“You botched it,” he murmured.

“They botched it first,” replied the black cat. “It came to us botched.”

“That doesn’t mean you had to give it to me botched.”

“Well, yes. But there’s only so much we can do.”

“Poor mother,” murmured the white cat, watching the sun still. “Her eyes hurt.”

“If you had held your eye open that long it would be red too,” the black cat said.
“If both your eyes weren’t already red, that is.”

“Well, she’ll get a rest soon,” the white muttered. “Poor mother. She tried so hard
to keep us clean. But some children just can’t stay out of trouble.”

“Don’t look at me,” the kitten said irritably. “I just got here. It’s you two who
have all the problems. I didn’t ask for this job, you know. It’s all flimflam brickety-brack
to me.”

“Who taught you that language?” The black cuffed the kitten smartly across the
head. “Have you been talking to Finn?”

“I can talk to whomever I want,” said the kitten resentfully. “You’re takin’
everyone with you, so where does that leave me? Stuck on top of the world without
anyone to turn to except the Pales. And they came in uninvited.”

“Still not our fault,” the black argued. “Mother couldn’t stop them when they
entered. And now they’ve gone and botched the world.”

“They aren’t all bad.” The white cat leisurely scratched his ear. “I was always
fond of the Egyptians. Now they knew royalty when they saw it.”

“I don’t know,” sighed the black. “Why anyone would want to worship Bastet, of
all the Sisters, is beyond me. And then they were those cat-burning festivals in Bubastis. I
still can’t look at fires without getting memories of that...and all those other festivals. The
‘fire of purification,’ burning out the devil in the cats, caused the plague, after all.”

“On the backs of rats, not Pales,” the white cat reminded his companion.

“I ate a rat once,” the kitten said conversationally. “It tasted funny.”

“No one asked you,” the black snorted. “And we weren’t talking about rats. We
were talking about Pales.”

“They tried,” the white cat said. “One fed me a scrap of bacon once when I was
starving in my third life. She was a kind little thing who died by the plague.”

“One drowned me in my fourth life,” the black cat hissed. “I think they deserve
whatever they get.”

“If I could, I’d drown you, too,” muttered the kitten.

“For a First-Lifer, you’re awfully sassy.” The black cat cuffed the kitten again and
stared at the white. “Are you sure this was the only First-Lifer left?”

“The very last.” The white cat sighed nostalgically. “I recall my first life. I was a
saber-tooth wild cat. I died by the spear of a primitive Pale, but I was happy. I fed him
and clothed his children.”

“How could you be happy for that?” The black shook his head. “I’ll never
understand you. Every Pale who’s killed me has had bad luck for the rest of his life. I’ve
made sure of it. My pelt is my pelt and no Pale’s going to use it.”

“The First Dog attached himself to a Pale and was happy for it,” the white cat
reminded his companion.

“Do you compare us to the Canidae now?” The black cat wrinkled his nose in
distaste. “How low you sink to make your point. The First Cat attacked a Pale and was
revered for it.”

“And He taught the Pales how to kill in that action,” the white said simply. “And
so He was shamed as well as honored. A less satisfying combination, my brother.”

“The Pales would have learned how to kill on their own eventually,” muttered the
black. “You feel too much for other species. A cat is an extension of the World itself,
connected in body and blood to the very fabric of the universe. A Pale is a whimpering,
hairless thing that crept uninvited into the universe and, seeing a world made for others,
proceeded to beat it into a shape more pleasing to their eyes, no matter the cost to those
the world was intended for.”

“Enough arguing,” sighed the white cat. “The day grows short and we have much
work to do. We have to collect up our Legends.”

“Aren’t you going to leave me any?” the kitten questioned loudly.

“Old Legends can’t exist in a world of new ones,” the white cat reprimanded him
gently. The cat sauntered over to the edge of the building. “Ah, here we are. Come on.”

The kitten’s eyes narrowed.

“I don’t travel those roads,” he said. “The last time I did, they turned my
stomach.”

“Don’t travel...” This time it was the white cat who cuffed him. “Some things I’ll
forgive in a young charge, but not this. Are you a canine now, to refuse to travel the roads
of your forefathers? Why, this is the very essence of the Felidae! And you would refuse to
travel them?”

“Only a First-Lifer would be so foolish as to ignore the roads,” chuckled the black
cat. He grasped the kitten firmly by the nape of the neck and jumped off the building with
the white cat on his heels.

They landed on hot red-gold sands. The scalding wind whipped around them,
causing the cats to squint their eyes to keep the sands from blinding them.

“Ah...” sighed the white cat. “The ancestral home of the cats. It has been too long
since I was last here.”

“This is where I met Finn,” the kitten said, squirming in the black cat’s grasp. “He
said something about me being one of the princes here. Where are we?”

“You don’t know?” The white cat was shocked. “Have we been such poor
teachers that you cannot recognize Egypt when you see it?”

“This is our ‘Great Kingdom,’” said the black sardonically, setting the kitten
down. “I never cared for it as much as my brother here. The burnings at Bubastis and all.
That was the first time I ever got burned alive. And then I was burned again during the
Witch Hunts. I’ve never cared for fire.”

“Speaking of Bubastis,” the white cat said. “We’d best call the Sisters.” He threw
back his head and howled like a strange combination of wolf and cat.

The wind picked up, and suddenly six small forms appeared on the horizon. As
they got closer, the kitten realized that they were cats the size of small wolves. The cat in
the lead was a strange golden-black color. She wore a gold hoop earring in each ear, and
the fur around her muzzle was burnt.

“That is Bastet,” the white cat murmured to the kitten. “Few know it, but she was
one of those burned at Bubastis. It was her penance to the innocents killed in her name
that she should be among them. Since then, all of her lives have had burnt muzzles, lest
she forget that she was once a goddess.”

“Greetings, Brother and Brother,” Bastet purred, settling down in front of them. “I
and my Sisters have come. Majicou, Catul, Ailouros, Mau, Catus and I greet you.”

“The time has come,” the black cat said solemnly. “We must go. The new Keeper
is about to arise, and he must find his own Legends.”

“Ah, to be written out of the history books so soon,” moaned one Sister, the gray
streaked Catul.

“Tis far too soon for me,” added the velvety Mau, her voice husky. “I never did
see China.”

“Well, which way do we go?” Bastet asked with a sigh. “To Mother, or to the
Grounds Below?”

“To Mother, of course.” The white cat was horrified at the very thought of the
alternative. “We haven’t been such very bad guardians as all that, have we?”

“One never knows,” said the chocolate brown Ailouros. She glanced at her
Sisters. “One of us must stay to guide Finn. He’ll never find the way alone.”

“I’ll help him,” said golden Majicou. “I know my way home.”

“Then you come with us and the rest of you get going,” said the black cat.

“We will see you at Mother’s breast,” Bastet said with a bob of her head. All the
Sisters save Majicou turned and left. The wind-swept sand covered their passage and in
moments it was as if they had never been.

“This way.” The white cat immediately set off at a run. The black followed and
Majicou came behind him, with the kitten stumbling in the rear. They halted before the
giant weather-worn Sphinx.

“Come on, Finn!” called Majicou. “The Brothers are here for you!”

A small blue creature stepped out of the Sphinx, passing through the walls of
giant edifice. The creature was an exact replica of the stone Sphinx. He was even missing
his nose.

“Is it time already?” moaned Finn, the true Sphinx. “I haven’t had a single Pale
ask me a question for over a millennium and now you come to get me?”

“It wasn’t our idea,” the black cat muttered.

“Humph,” snorted Finn. He glanced at the kitten. “I remember you. Tell me:
When is it winter in the summer?”

“I don’t know,” replied the kitten.

“In about two hours,” the white cat said. “If everything goes as it’s supposed to.”

“Do you understand what they mean?” the kitten asked Finn.

The Sphinx laughed at that.

“Only a First-Lifer would ask the Sphinx, Master of Riddles, to answer a question.
And expect a straight answer. What a pick this one is!”

“Don’t we know it,” said the black cat dryly. “But there’s not much we can do
about it. He’s the only pure one left. Now, get along Finn. Majicou will lead you home.”

“I’ve got some good riddles for the trip,” Finn said conversationally as he sidled
up to the large Sister. He smiled at the other three cats and walked off with Majicou at his
side. Behind him, the stone Sphinx crumbled into dust.

“Only two legends left,” the white cat said sadly. “Oh, this is heavy work!”

“We’ll see them again in a few hours,” the black replied. “It’s our little Sprat here
who’s got the hard job. He’s got to make his own Legends. Ours came fixed.”

“Two for the price of one, no money down!” stated the kitten. The two cats stared
at him quizzically and shook their heads.

The next road landed them in an empty shopping mall. Cobwebs adorned the
walls and mannequins stood covered in dust like mournful reminders of what had been.

“I thought we left Middy in a forest?” the white cat said, confused.

“We did.” The black cat smiled grimly. “Your precious Pales turned it into a
shopping mall.”

“A shopping mall?” The white cat gave an amused giggle. “Oh, Middy will love
that. Let’s wake him up.”

The black cat nodded and began to pat the ground with a paw. The building shook
each time his paw touched the floor.

There was a cracking noise and the linoleum tiles split apart. The kitten squeaked
in fear as a large green serpent rose from the hole in the floor. Golden eyes beheld the
three cats sleepily.

“Who summons the Midgard Serpent?” he asked in a hissing whisper. His sleep-
blurred eyes focused on the cats. “Oh, it’s you two. Never mind. I’m going back to sleep.”

“You know why we’re here,” the white cat said gently.

“Is it time?” The snake smiled widely. “Do I finally get to crush the world in my
coils as was promised?”

“Aah...no,” the white cat said nervously. “You see, plans have....changed
somewhat. You have to go back to our mother.”

“What?!” The Midgard Serpent’s mouth dropped open. “Why?” His voice
sounded like that of a child wanting to know why he was denied a new pair of sneakers.

“We don’t make the rules,” mumbled the black cat, shrugging. “It wasn’t our idea,
I’ll tell you that much. The Pales screwed up something or other, and the whole thing’s
going to Tartarus in a reed basket, if you catch my meaning.”

“But I was promised....” pouted the serpent.

“We know what you were promised,” the white cat said patiently. “I’m sorry.
Maybe you can crush another world later?”

“It’s not the same,” sulked the Midgard Serpent. “I waited for centuries to crush
this world and now you tell me I have to leave! It’s not fair!”

“Oh, be quiet you great crybaby!” the black cat spat impatiently. “Get going and
stop your whining!”

“Oh, all right....” The Serpent dug back into the ground, muttering to himself.

“One more Legend and then our work is done,” the white cat said solemnly. He
sighed and glanced at the black cat. “It’s sad, is it not?”

“If you say so,” shrugged the black. “Anyhow, soon it’ll be his problem.” He
nodded at the kitten, who was poking around the hole made by the Midgard Serpent.
“Come on, First-Lifer. We’ve got one last place to go before you’re on your own.”

“And this perhaps the most important place of all,” the white cat said cryptically.
“Only one road leads here, and it must be found inward. Close your eyes.”

“Why?” the kitten asked.

“Just do as he says,” snapped the black cat.

The kitten sighed and did as ordered.

“Focus your breathing,” the white cast purred. “Search the roads inside that flow
out, and follow those roads to the heart of the light.”

The kitten wasn’t sure if he was following the white cat’s orders or not, but
somehow he found himself on a strange silver road. The white cat and black cat were
with him, and before them was a small grove of trees.

“This is her domain,” the white cat murmured. He turned to the kitten. “Tell her
that the Brothers have come for her.”

“Me?” The kitten was confused. “You want me to go in alone?”

“Only one pure and new can enter this place,” the black cat said in a dry tone.
“We’re far too old for that. And far too tainted.”

Nervously, the kitten edged his way into the forest. He glanced around, then called
out shyly,

“Hello? Is anyone here? I-I’m supposed to tell you that the Brothers have come for
you.”

“Already?” There was a mournful noise, and a shining white unicorn stepped out
of the trees. Her eyes were deep blue and very sad. “And you are the new Caretaker, yes?”
She shook her head. “I know that it is folly, but.....I had hoped that this time I could stay.
That just this once, things would go right. But I suppose that never happens, does it?”

“The Pales ruined it,” the kitten said. “That’s what the black cat says. Because
they were uninvited, you know.”

“No.” The unicorn shook her head and knelt down so that she faced him. “Few
know this, but one Pale was invited. The First was allowed into the world. But his
children were lost without him, like a kitten separated from its mother. So the other Pales
followed, followed uninvited. And they searched for the father who had entered before
them, searched desperately. And some found him and some didn’t, and many began to
forget. Many generations were born not remembering him, yet they still had the inner
need to search for him. And so they spend their lives searching for something long
forgotten, just as you would search for your mother though you have forgotten her scent.”

“But a Pale isn’t like a lost cat,” the kitten said, looking down.

“A Pale is the very image of a lost cat.” The unicorn used her horn to raise his
chin and smiled gently at the kitten. “Remember, the first Pale was invited. And so every
Pale, as well as every rat, every bug, and every blade of grass is an extension of the
universe. The cat was created where the roads converged in mystery and shadow. The
Pale was born at the tattered edge of the road.”

“And who was born at the beginning?” the kitten asked, wide-eyed.

“You.” The unicorn smiled at him again and then walked away, out of the forest,
past the black and white cats, across the silver road, and out into the heart of the universe.

Suddenly the kitten found himself back on the rooftop where he had begun the
day. The Brothers were beside him.

“It’s time,” the black cat said after a moment. He sounded almost sad. Closing his
eyes, the black floated into the air, seeming to become the night itself.

“I call the shadows to me,” he murmured. “I call the lullabies to me. I call the
spirits of the dark to me. Mother, it is time to rest.”

The white cat seemed to flow into the darkening skies after his brother.

“I call the stars to me,” he intoned. “I call the moon to me. I call the hidden roads,
I call the spirits of light to me.” The stars flowed into him, making his hide seem even
brighter.

“Until we meet again, First-Lifer!” crowed the black. “I go to Mother now!” He
turned, darted into the sun, and disappeared. Slowly, the sun began to disappear, as if a
great eye was closing.

The white cat landed lightly on the roof beside the kitten.

“It’s all yours now, Creare,” the white cat said to him. “And it is time for your rest
as well. Will you need anyone to wake you up?”

“I can wake myself up,” Creare grumbled, curling up into a ball.

“Then I bid you farewell, from both me and my brother,” the white cat said,
returning to the sky. “Begginan and Finis, the beginning and the end, the white cat and the
black, bid you farewell. And good luck!” Then he, too, disappeared into the sun.

There was a flash of light, and a noise that sounded almost like a great cry of
sorrow. The sun winked out and the sky was dark. Snow began to fall.

“Time for bed,” mumbled Creare sleepily as he began to close his eyes. “What
was it Finn told me earlier, before we came for him? Oh, yes, I remember: ‘....I am the
one, born of the She-Cat, the double-guide, walker in the ways of the living and realms of
the dead; I am the Cat, the divine Cat of the Spaces of Heaven, the sacred Cat of Creation
and the End of the World.’ From the Egyptian Book of the Dead, that’s what he said.”
The kitten chuckled. “The Cat of Creation, eh? That wasn’t such a hard riddle after all...”

Creare closed his eyes and slept, and the whole world waited for him to waken
and for the new age to begin.